Violence against women has a serious and long-term impact on women’s health and wellbeing, on families and communities, and on society as a whole.
The range of impacts on Australia women, families and communities are discussed below.
Homelessness
- Domestic or family violence against women is the single largest driver of women’s homelessness. In 2017-2018, over 70 thousand women sought homelessness services due to domestic and family violence.
Health
- For women aged 18-44, violence against women contributes more to women’s ill health than well-known risk factors like tobacco use, high cholesterol or use of illicit drugs.
- It has serious impacts on women’s health, including injuries and homicide, poor mental health, reproductive health problems and problems with alcohol and drug use.
- In 2016 -2017, on average 12 women a day were hospitalised for assault injuries due to domestic and family violence.
Children and young people
- Exposure to violence against their mothers or other caregivers causes profound harm to children, with potential impacts on attitudes to relationships and violence, as well as behavioural, cognitive and emotional functioning, social development, education and later employment prospects.
- Women who, as children, witnessed partner violence against their parent are more than twice as likely to be subjected to partner violence themselves, compared to women who had not.
The economy
- The combined health, administration and social welfare costs of violence against women have been estimated to be $21.7 billion a year.
- It is expected that if no further action is taken to prevent violence against women, costs will reach $323.4 billion by 2044-45.

More about the impacts of violence against women
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Research about health impacts of violence against womenThis research paper developed by Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety (ANROWS) that outlines findings on the health impacts of intimate partner violence and the contribution it makes to the overall disease burden in Australian women.
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A reliable source of quick facts about violence against womenQuick facts from Our Watch that are a reliable and easy to access source of high-level statistics and evidence on violence against women in Australia.
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A factsheet about the health impacts of intimate partner violenceA factsheet about intimate partner violence's contribution to the burden of disease, including illness, disability and death, developed by Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety (ANROWS).
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A factsheet about the impacts of violence against womenA factsheet about the impacts of family, domestic and sexual violence on women and children, developed by Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety (ANROWS).
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A factsheet about hospitalisations of women from assault injuriesThis factsheet from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare presents an overview of hospitalised assault injuries among women and girls in 2013-14.
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Social media tiles for communications based on Change the storyA collection of social media tiles developed by Our Watch for the 2021 '16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence' campaign, based on the updated edition of Change the story.